Chess game apparatus

ABSTRACT

A chess game apparatus is disclosed having a game board comprised of four vertically spaced-apart layer members. Each layer member has a square-shaped checkboard pattern formed by 16 squares on its upper surface and is preferably supported in a horizontal plane. The game is for play by two opponents, each using a chess set of eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, one queen and one king. Four of the pawns of each chess set are distinctively marked so as to permit identification distinct from other pawns.

United-States atent Kane 1 1 Aug. 15,1972

1541 CHESS GAMEAPPARATUS [72] Inventor: John Robert Kane, 13086 E. Alaska v Ave., Aurora, Colo. 80010 221 Filed: June 19, 1970 [21] App]. No.: 47,817

51 16 .0. ..A63f 3/02 [58] Field 61 Search ..273/130, 131, 136

[56] r 5 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,464,701 9/1969 Mahoney ..273/131 B 1,981,646 11/1934 Hamley ..273/131 B ux 3,399,895 9/1968 -Beach 273 131 B I OTHER PUBLICATIONS Total Chess by Charles Beatty; March 1946; page 2; 273- 1318.

Primary Examiner-Delbert B. Lowe Att0rney-Reilly and Lewis A chess game apparatus is disclosed having a game board comprised of four vertically spaced-apart layer members. Each layer member has a square-shaped checkboard pattern formed by 16 squares on its upper surface and is preferably supported in a horizontal plane. The game is for play by two opponents, each using a chess set of eight pawns, two rooks, two

knights, two bishops, one queen and one king. Four of the pawns of each chess set are distinctively marked so. asto permit identification distinct from other Pawns.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures QHESS GAME APPARATUS The present invention relates to games and more particularly to a chess game apparatus.

The game of chess is a well-known ancient war game which is quite popular. Traditionally, the game is played by two players on a two-dimensional checkered game board having 64 squares. In the game of chess, there are a number of different classes of pieces, i.e., kings, queens, bishops, knights, rooks and pawns. The manner in which each of these classes of pieces may be moved on the game board is defined by the rules of the game so as to be different from the permitted movement of other classes. It is this difference in the manner in which various pieces may be moved which renders the game relatively complex, and no doubt adds to the games popularity by making the playing of the game a rather stimulating mental exercise.

Therefore, since the ultimate goal behind the game of chess appears to be to challenge the minds of the players, games similar to chess have heretofore been devised which are played in three dimensions. The rationale behind these three-dimensional games was that if a two-dimensional game is found mentally stimulating, a three-dimensional game would be even more intellectually stimulating and consequently more enjoyable. Typically, however, these prior art three-dimensional games have deviated from the traditional game of chess, either by adding more classes of pieces, more squares to the playing area, or even more players. As a result of these deviations, a certain amount of the historical charm of the game was naturally lost.

It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a novel chess game apparatus which is threedimensional and which is played in a manner closely paralleling the traditional game of chess.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel chess game board comprised of four vertically spaced-apart layer members, each one of the layer members having the same number of playing squares as the others.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a novel chess game apparatus which is threedimensional and permits selective introduction of variations to the conventional game of chess as a natural extension of the game.

It is additionally an object of the present invention to provide a novel chess game apparatus which has a game board of 64 squares comprised of four vertically spaced-apart parallel layers, each layer having 16 squares thereon, and which is played by the two players using the standard pieces of a conventional chess set.

In accomplishing these and other objects, there has been provided in accordance with the present invention a chess game apparatus having a checkered game board made of four vertically spaced layers. Each layer has sixteen squares thereon so that the game board has a total of 64 squares, as a conventional chess board. The game is played by two players using the pieces of a conventional chess set. The chess pieces are arranged on the various layers ina predetermined manner at the commencement of a game and the moves of the pieces are defined so that they may be moved in the threedimensional playing area. The moves of each class of pieces are defined, however, so that they closely approximate the moves of the same pieces in a traditional chess game. Thus, a novel three-dimensional chess game apparatus is provided which is played in a manner closely paralleling a traditional game of chess, but has the added mental stimulation of being played in three dimensions.

A better understanding of the present invention may be had from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an assembled game board of a chess game apparatus according to the present invention; I

FIG. 2 is a view taken above the line 22 of FIG. ll;

FIG. 3 is a top view of one of the similar layer members making up the game board of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the playing area provided by the game board of FIG. 1, showing the positions of the pieces of a conventional chess set thereon at the commencement of a game of three-dimensional chess.

Referring to the drawings in more detail, there is shown in FIG. 1 a preferred form of game board generally indicated by the numeral 101. The game board 101 has four identical layer portions or members 102, one of which is shown in FIG. 3. The upper side of each layer portion 102 has a checkerboard design of 16 playing squares 104 formed thereon. The squares 104 are all uniform in size and arranged in rows so as to form a square-shaped playing area on each layer member 102. The layers 102 are identified from top to bottom by the designations l02a-l02d, respectively. The layers 102 are spaced vertically apart, preferably one above the other, by support members 102 with the checkered pattern of squares 104 of all the layers 102 being aligned in the same sense so that one checkerboard pattern of squares 104 corresponds with the others, as shown in FIG. 4. An exemplary one of the squares 104 is identified in FIG. 3.

Holes 105 are formed in each of the comers of the layers 102, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Threaded portions 103a of the support members 103 are inserted through the holes 105 and other support members 103 are screwed onto the projecting thread portions 1030, thereby to support the layers members 102. The layers I02 are preferably supported so as to be parallel with respect to each other and the support members 102 may be tubular in shape. The manner in which the support members 103 support the layers 102 is shown in detail in FIG. 2. Attachments 106 and 107 are shown for securing the bottom layer 102d and the top layer 10201 to their adjacent support members 103, respectively. It is noted that other conventional members and means could be employed for supporting the layers 102 in a spaced-apart relationship.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the playing area provided by the game board 101 is shown therein. For explanation purposes, the squares 104 of the game board 101 are numbered from I to 64. As shown in FIG. 4, the squares of the layer members 102a, 102b, R020 and 102d are numbered, respectively, from 1-16, 17-32, 33-48 and 49-64. Half the squares are of one color r such as, black, while the other half of the squares are of another color, such as, white. The pieces of a conventional. chess set are indicated by letters on the game board 101 in their positions at the commencement of a game of chess. The following designations are used for 3 identifying the chess pieces on the game board ltllll.

The pieces are assumed to be black and white as they usually are in the game of chess.

Chess Piece Black White King K K Queen Q ir Bishops B B Knights KN KN Rooks R R Pawns P P A table is given below indicating the squares upon which the respective chess pieces are positioned at the commencement of a game:

Black White Chess No. of Chess No. of Piece Pieces Square Piece Pieces Square K I 3 K 1 63 On 1 2 Qll 1 62 B 2 l3, [6 B 2 49, 52 KN 2 l4, 15 KN 2 50, 5] RR 2 l, 4 RM 2 6 l 64 P 8 17-20, Pu- 8 33-36,

PAWNS A pawn is allowed to move forward one square at a time. Additionally, a pawn may move vertically one level at a time in the direction of the opposite sides king or queen. To capture, a pawn may only capture diagonally as in standard chess. Therefore, a pawn may not capture an opponent by moving to a different level. Further, a pawn may not jump men as in standard chess. In order for a pawn to be exchanged for another piece, it has to move to the level of the opposite sides king to the opposite side of the board from which it started the game.

To illustrate, P on square 45 would have to move to any of the squares 346 in order to be changed for a piece, while P on square 34 would have to move to any of the squares 14. in order to keep track of which pawns have to move to squares 1-4 and which to squares 1346, the white pawns on squares 33-36 may be marked in order to identify them from the white pawns on squares 45-48.

On layer 1020, the forward direction of the pawns on squares 45-48 is from the line of squares designated M0 to the line of squares designated lll while the forward direction for pawns on squares 33-36 is just the opposite, i.e., from the line of squares 111 to line 110. Any of these white pawns may be moved vertically upwards from layer H920 to li2b. On layer 102b, the pawns from squares may be moved towards the line of squares designated H2 and the white pawns from the square 334% may be moved towards the line of squares designated 113. White pawns from the layer 1021) may be moved vertically upward to the layer 102a. On the layer W241 white pawns from the squares 45-48 may be moved towards the line of squares designated 114 while white pavms from the squares 3336 may be moved towards the line of squares designated H5. it is again noted that each move of the pawns is limited to one square or layer at a time, and that the only time a pawn may be moved diagonally is when capturing.

With regard to the black pawns, the manner in which they move is similar to that described for white pawns. Black pawns, however, will be moved vertically downward on the game board 101. The black pawns on the squares 29 452 would be marked differently from the black pawns on the squares ll7-2 so that it may be determined which is the forward direction of movement for these pawns on layers M219, ll2c and Mild and to which square each particular black pawn has to be moved in order to be entitled to be changed for another piece.

BISHOPS The bishop will move horizontally in a diagonal direction as in standard chess. On any plane W2 it can move diagonally on its own color, but must stop where it reaches the edge of the plane or layer and cannot move vertically in the same move. in a separate move, the bishop will move vertically, or three-dimensionally, by moving diagonally through the planes MP2. To illustrate, if the bishop is on square 39, it may move diagonally and horizontally to squares 36, 42, 45, 44 or 34. From square 39 is could move diagonally and vertically to squares 64, 62, 56, 54 on plane lltBZd; 20, 26, 28, 18 on plane 102i); and square 1 on plane 102a. It cannot combine a horizontal and vertical move and cannotjump over other chess men.

KNIGHT S ROOKS The rooks move in a straight line as in standard chess. This straight line may be either horizontal or vertical. To illustrate, the R on square e14. could be moved therefrom to any of the following squares on one move:

Squares 47, 413, 49, 62, 63, 64, 33, 17 or l3. The rooks cannot jump pieces.

QUEEN A queen has the combined powers of the bishop and rook described in this specification.

KING

A king moves one square at a time in any direction. To illustrate, the K on square 63 may be moved to any of the following squares: 62, 58, 59, 60, 64 or 35. As in regular chess, the king may not be moved into check.

The manner in which each of the above-described chess pieces captures may be the same as each captures in standard chess.

Thus, there is provided a novel chess game apparatus which is played in three dimensions in a manner closely paralleling the traditional game of chess. The game board provided in the game apparatus is comprised of four vertically spaced-apart layer members, each layer member having 16 squares thereon. Thus, a game board having 64 squares like a standard chess board is provided. The game is for two opponents and a standard set of chess men may be used for playing the game.

While the preferred form of the game board of the present invention has unique application as described, it is nevertheless to be understood that various modifications and changes may be made in the detailed construction and arrangement of elements comprising the preferred form as well as its intended use without departing from the spirit of the present invention. What is claimed is:

1. In a chess game apparatus, a game board comprismg:

four layer members, each layer defining an upper horizontal playing surface divided into 16 playing squares, and each layer arranged in a corresponding checkerboard pattern,

supporting means for supporting said layer members in four separate planes and arranged to permit advancement of chess pieces on and between the playing surfaces, alternate ones of the playing squares defined on each of said layer members being distinguishable from the others to form a checkerboard pattern and said layer members being supported by said support means with the alternate ones of the playing squares formed thereon in vertical alignment with one another, and

one set of chess pieces for each opponent, each of said sets of chess pieces having eight pawns, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, one queen and one king, and four pawns of each of said sets of chess pieces being distinctly marked so as to be identifiable from the other pawns of their respective one of said sets of chess pieces.

2. The invention recited in claim l, wherein said supporting means are cylindrical members threadedly connected to each of said layer members. 

1. In a chess game apparatus, a game board comprising: four layer members, each layer defining an upper horizontal playing surface divided into 16 playing squares, and each layer arranged in a corresponding checkerboard pattern, supporting means for supporting said layer members in four separate planes and arranged to permit advancement of chess pieces on and between the playing surfaces, alternate ones of the playing squares defined on each of said layer members being distinguishable from the others to form a checkerboard pattern and said layer members being supported by said support means with the alternate ones of the playing squares formed thereon in vertical alignment with one another, and one set of chess pieces for each opponent, each of said sets of chess pieces having eight pawns, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, one queen and one king, and four pawns of each of said sets of chess pieces being distinctly marked so as to be identifiable from the other pawns of their respective one of said sets of chess pieces.
 2. The invention recited in claim 1, wherein said sUpporting means are cylindrical members threadedly connected to each of said layer members. 